All the Right Moves
by Beth Pryor
Summary: On Logan's first birthday after meeting Max, he's found himself faced with difficult changes over the previous year. He and Max manage a little bit of a belated celebration on the heels of C.R.E.A.M and 411 on the DL, neither of which was too great of a time for Logan. Early S1 canon, on the way to ML. My first fic for Logan's birthday, although I'm obviously late.


**All the Right Moves**

**Author:** Beth Pryor

**Rating:** K+

**Summary:** On Logan's first birthday after meeting Max, he's found himself faced with difficult changes over the previous year. He and Max manage a little bit of a belated celebration on the heels of C.R.E.A.M and 411 on the DL, neither of which was too great of a time for Logan.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything, including Dark Angel, the concept or characters.

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><p>All the Right Moves<p>

"Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday, Logan!"

"That's not how the song goes." He shook his head as he held the door open for her.

She stepped through and let it close behind her when he released it. "I told you Manticore wasn't big on birthdays. Not really on singing, either."

He'd already started down the hall toward the kitchen. "It was last week. And you already gave me the grapefruit before that."

She followed, nearly tripping over him when he stopped suddenly just short of the kitchen island. "You've been moping around for a week. I decided to do something to cheer you up."

"So you?" he pointed toward the cake, hoping she'd gotten some help from the others in its preparation.

"Don't worry," she grinned, noting the slightly stricken look on his face when he considered her lack of domestic skills. "Kendra did the heavy lifting. I just frosted."

He softened now, realizing he'd been brasher than he'd intended upon finding her on the doorstep waiting for him, rather than bursting through with her usual disregard for doorbells and locked doors. "It can be for yours, too, if you want."

"Nah. I don't know a lot about birthdays, but I'm guessing it's no fun to share. And if I do pick another day, we get two cakes."

He forced a half-smile. "That's a good point."

"I'm sorry about Herrero and about, um, her." They'd been through the required debriefing and aftermath for both of those situations in the past three weeks, but he wasn't bouncing back like she'd expected, like she'd seen him do before.

He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "I guess there's no such thing as a happy ending. I keep forgetting that for some reason." He turned away from her and moved into the living room.

She placed the cake on the countertop and followed him, taking a seat on the chair across from where he stopped. "That's not really true, and you know it."

He sighed again. "Thanks for all of this, but I'm not finding much reason to celebrate this year."

She almost reached out for his hand but held back. "I know it's been a rough one."

"That's kind of the understatement of the century," he scoffed.

"Things are getting better, though." She thought they were. She hoped he did, too.

"I'm getting used to the way things are. I don't know if that's the same thing."

She shrugged. "It's something."

"I find myself expecting everything good in my life to just keep disappearing now." He unlocked the brakes and headed to the wall of windows. "I know that sounds overly dramatic."

She shrugged again. "A little bit."

He kept his eyes focused on his hands in his lap. "I don't like feeling like this. I don't like who I am right now."

She could relate. "Then be someone else." She felt like the best version of herself when she was here with him.

He finally looked up and out across the city. "That's not so easy for most of us."

"You could try." Her voice pleaded. She hadn't intended that level of emotion.

He turned away from the windows and back toward her. "In case you haven't figured by now, I can be a slow learner."

She walked over and knelt beside him. "You mean Val?"

"That certainly didn't help any." The whole thing had gone down the day before his birthday. Max had made her apologies that night in the rain, but to her knowledge, there had been no celebrating the next day. And again, she expected him to shake this off like previous setbacks. He hadn't.

"I'm sorry about that, too." She apologized again.

"It's not your fault." It wasn't really, although he hated that she was the one who'd pointed out the obvious reason for Val's reemergence in his life. She'd asked herself over and over why she'd done it, finally realizing her motives hadn't been completely altruistic. He backed away from the window, and she stood beside him.

"I didn't have to stick my nose where it didn't belong. But I can commiserate with you, can't I?"

"Sure. They say misery loves company."

"I find it hard to be miserable when I'm here, though."

He looked up, staring pointedly at her. "Yeah?"

She felt her face warming and hoped he didn't notice her blushing. "Well yeah. It's warm, and there's food and hot water."

"Right." He started toward the couch.

"And good company."

He paused, looking hopeful. "Yeah?"

"Totally."

"Not so much recently, though." He sighed. "God, Max. I'm pathetic."

She dropped to the arm rest of the sofa. "I don't think that."

"I'm not being a good friend."

"You're being a guy who's dealing with multiple serious disappointments for the first time in his life."

"And you're going to let me wallow?"

"For a little while longer." She stood again. "But while you're wallowing, I'm going to eat some of your cake."

He dredged up the tiniest grin. "I guess I could be convinced to try a piece, too."

"Kendra will be so pleased." She reported as she headed for the kitchen. He followed, finding plates and a knife and handing them over for her to cut and serve. He accepted his piece with the first genuine smile she'd seen today.

"Thanks, Max. For this. For being here tonight."

"I know I don't make your life easier, that I've, um, complicated things."

He couldn't deny that. Having her around definitely complicated his life. "But it's so much more exciting with you in it."

"I could handle mundane every now and then."

"I doubt that." He tried to imagine her with a vacuum cleaner or making weekly trips to the market; he couldn't.

"I'd be willing to try sometime," she ventured.

He chuckled. "Not in Seattle. Not anytime soon, anyway." He saw her face fall. "I mean, I'm working on it, but we've got a long way to go."

She forced her own smile. "Right. Protector of the downtrodden and all that."

"Not tonight, though," he decided quite suddenly. "I'm taking the night off."

"Really? The whole night?" She didn't know such an option existed for the great Eyes Only.

"Unless I get too bored to resist."

Her eyes danced with mischief. "I can help you with that."

"Oh yeah?" He couldn't help but smile when she allowed this playful Max to win out over her carefully-constructed tough exterior.

"Chess?"

"Absolutely. But don't let me win just because it's kind of my birthday," he called over his shoulder as he headed to the closet to grab the board and pieces.

"Oh, don't worry. I won't."

When he returned with the game, a small package was waiting for him on the table. He picked it up and turned it in his hands. "What's this?"

"Just a little something for the guy who has everything."

He shot her a sideways glance. "You really didn't have to."

"I know, and I wouldn't have if this hadn't sort of fallen into my lap."

His eyes narrowed. "Into your lap, huh?"

"Yep. And now into yours. Open it," she urged.

He unwrapped the box and lifted its lid, eyes widening as he took the figurine inside into his hand. "This is great, Max. Where did you find something like this?" He held the orange-yellow topaz cat up to the light where the polished edges twinkled as he rotated it.

"There was a stand in the market a few days ago. This guy was selling all sorts of rocks and gemstones he'd found up in the mountains. Some were polished and cut like real jewels and some were just rough. I was going to get you one of those as a paperweight or something until I saw this." She pointed to the pillar where the Egyptian statue Max had stolen and then returned to Logan sat. "I thought this little guy could hang out with Bast."

Logan moved immediately toward the larger statue and placed the smaller figure beside it. "Definitely. They'll look out for one another."

"You really like it?"

"I love it." He rejoined her back at the table. "It reminds me of you."

"Yellow topaz means friendship. That guy told me that."

He raked his fingers through his hair. "I haven't had a friend that I don't pay to be here in a long time, Max. I'm afraid I'm not always a good one to you."

She scooted her dining room chair a little closer, so close that they were almost touching. "That's not true." She reached out to caress his face but stopped short, balling her hand into a fist and moving it below the surface of the table. Such an intimate touch would be out of bounds. Somehow she knew this, although she wasn't sure exactly how she did. "Sorry."

His eyes found hers and held her chocolate gaze. "For what."

She finally pulled away, looking toward her own lap. "I don't know."

"You still want to play?"

She looked up and smiled again. "Yeah."

"Black or white?"

"White."

"You always pick black."

She shrugged with a little toss of her hair. "Trying something new."

"New is good," he agreed.

"It can be." Her brow crinkled as she bit her bottom lip.

He opened his mouth to answer then stopped. Finally, he spoke. "I'll set up the board."

She reached forward to move her first pawn. His hand shot forward to touch hers. She looked up, puzzled.

"Thanks again for this. I can't think of any other way I'd rather spend my evening."

Max felt her face warming in a flush but also erupting into a smile. "Happy Belated Birthday, Logan."

He smiled back across the chess board at his gorgeous friend, who he sensed could be more if and when he said the word. But he wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to do that. "I'll teach you the song for next year, though."

She nodded as he removed his hand from hers. She moved the white piece forward two spaces. The game was on.

FIN


End file.
